One Month at War - a Summary (ZonkerH vs ADavidB)

[ADavidB]

There are three benefits to raiding, which the US knew in early 42, and I'm taking the same advantage of them:

- Learning the limits of my ability to project force
- Giving my forces practice
- Keeping the Japanese "honest"

Right now Zonker still has overwhelming force in the DEI and PI as he mops up what's left of my forces there. He is also starting to go into NG. I'm watching and waiting for the next time he slips up - he has a big area to watch and he can't be sure where I can hit next. [8D]

Dave

[ZonkerHarris]

It's only February 5, 1942 at the moment, so I'm much more concerned with hitting Dave than with wondering where he'll hit me. I'm continuing to roll up the SRA -- my troops took Palembang yesterday, and thanks to the early air superiority I established over the area, it's chock full of oil to fuel my expanding industries. Java is next on the list, along with a few little islands in the area, and then I'll be done with Phase II of my campaign.

My first squadron of Emilys is on line now, expanding my vision even further. Still almost no allied shipping to see, however. A couple of days ago my Bettys torpedoed a Dutch ML at Chandpur (or was it Diamond Harbor), but other than that Dave's ships have been very scarce. I may just do a little raiding of my own . . .

[ADavidB]

Zonker and I have reached the two month point in the war. Things are relatively quiet - we are both keeping our naval forces back behind our air forces, so neither of us are getting in any "cheap shots". Zonker is systematically eliminating my forces in the PI and DEI - I am building my next line of defense while waiting for the inevitable to happen.

The biggest area of action is the air war of attrition that is going on over Burma. I bomb Rangoon, Zonker bombs my bases. We both seem to be suffering from fighter pilots who think that they are "made of sugar" - they don't like to go up in the rain.

We were both surprised with the "first come, first serve" rule for dividing large air groups. A couple of game-weeks ago I divided up a number of my bigger groups, now neither of us can divide up more. Something should be done to prevent "division races" from occuring in future patches (such as opening up more slots).

One odd thing that I am noticing is that my engineer units are working very slowly to build up bases in comparison with a parallel game that I am playing against the AI. These are well supplied, full strength, low fatigue and low disruption engineers in temporate bases. Why would they increase levels weeks slower in this game than against the AI?

Dave Baranyi

[ADavidB]

It's February 17th, 1942 and things are still progressing systematically for Zonker in the DEI. He invaded Java at one of the small, undefended bases and is starting to move his troops around on land. Zonker has avoided invading any major bases so my CDs haven't had any opportunities to be tested. My Dutch AF and remaining Brit planes haven't been able to break through his mini-KB to do any serious damage on the invasion force. What this shows is that if the Japanese player isn't reckless, those "highly dangerous" Brit and Dutch torpedo planes can be made useless pretty easily.

Again in this theater I attempted a bit of semi-historic action by bringing some supplies in to Java to prolong the struggle. Zonker did catch part of my convoy, but they were mostly unloaded by the time his combined mini-KB and LBA hit it. It will be interesting to see how long the Dutch can hold out under siege. Surprisingly, the boys in Bataan are still holding out. Speaking of which, it's too bad that the game couldn't model Corrigedor Island too, or the US forces in Luzon might have held out until May 42.

I haven't been doing any raiding lately. I now know my effective limits, and Zonker hasn't been sticking any interesting targets out where I feel like going. I'm also trying to accumulate some forces to be able to get local superiority in the areas where I want. Reinforcements are coming in slowly - I'm regretting those few places where I did waste forces, and I'm avoiding those mistakes in the new campaign game that I'm playing against another opponent.

I'm also suffering because I was really aggressive with my subs at the beginning, which resulted in a dozen and a half sunk, and most of the rest badly damaged. So even though both sub-doctrines are "off" right now, I've got little in the way of effective sub forces to cause Zonker any trouble.

Things are quiet in Burma. Zonker is relatively happy to sit in Rangoon, and my forces are back to their new "forward" positions. Zonker has been getting a respite from my bomber attacks - my B-17 crews are too happy to sit back an eat curry and haven't been flying, good weather or not. This means that I have a lot of fully repaired bombers, and well-rested crews sitting around doing nothing. Oh well, when and if they do fly, Zonker will know it.

Things are also quiet in China. Zonker has positioned one big group of troups, and a second smaller group of troups in locations where they can continue a Japanese advance, but he hasn't actually moved. That's okay, I enjoy each day that I get to rest troops and build defences.

Now, if my perfectly happy, well-supplied engineering troops in temporate bases would only get off of their butts and start to build up those bases as I ordered, I would be relatively pleased.

Dave Baranyi

[Tom Hunter]

Blackwatch and I are up to March 1 now and I have seen the same problem it takes a long time to get the airbases upgraded. I think Blackwatch has put big engineer units on some key bases because he seems to get upgrades faster than I do. The larger allied base units start arriving (in theater) in Feb if you load them as soon as they come in so it does look like things will be better in March.

[ADavidB]

Wouldn't you know it - I wrote "too soon" about Burma and the very next turn-day Zonker took me up on my "invitation" to send troops into the "marvelous malarial morass" of Burma. Now his troops have the superb environs of Pagan and Taung Gyi to care for... which makes it even easier for my guys to drop "CARE" packages onto his troops. (That's assuming that my fly boys can stop playing "Maja - Aha" and board their planes. [:@] )

[ZonkerHarris]

Hehe! Can't hae all those Brits (and Chinese too, I expect) sitting around in Mandalay getting lonely. They can soon look forward to a lenghty and invigorating hike back to India across those hospititable jungle trails. My own troops have been taking it easy up the railway lines and highways, and are still fresh and healthy for all the talk of malaria.

I've been taking my time at Bataan, but it won't hold out much longer. The forts are already down from 9 to 6, and my last attack got something like 3 to 1 odds, so the end for MacArthur (or at least those of his subordinates who couldn't fit on his PT boat) is near. The troops in that operation will then rest up in Manila for a little while, where they will be joined by transports to move them on to their next assignment in . . . Oh, but that would be telling.

Suffice to say that the recent lack of naval battles won't last -- the Death Star is still the ultimate power in the universe, after all, and the refitting and replenishing it's been able to do while its little brother kicks the westerners out of the SRA will make it all the more potent when it strikes.

[ZonkerHarris]

We're now three months into this game, and an eerie quiet still prevails over most of the Pacific. I've taken the southern half of Java, with just Tjilitjap and Batavia left to go (and maybe one other little base) before I close the book on the DEI campaign. There's still some mopping up of little islands in the area to be done, but that's just a matter of time.

In Burma, Dave's heavily reinforced the Burma road, so I'm having to think over my next move in that theater. With all that strength at Myitkyina and Lashio, he's got to be weak elsewhere. I'm advancing slowly in China, but nothing much has really happened there.

The only really noteworthy development came on March 3 (or so) when Dave launched another CV raid against the northern islands. This time, Enterprise stumbled across an I-boat, and had a tasty, filling breakfast of two very spicy fish to start her day. My intrepid sub driver stalked his wounded prey eastwards, and after poking his nose into Kiska (lots of Allied shipping there, I'll have to take a closer look) on March 8 his scout plane sighted two ships limping off towards Dutch Harbor. I-27 gave chase at full throttle, and on the morning of the 9th delivered the coup de grace. One more torpedo hit finished off the Big E. (Celebrations will be somewhat limited by the thought of another Essex to contend with in 1943, but tomorrow, as the saying goes, is another day).

[ADavidB]

What a time for my ASW to choke - here, there and almost everywhere. I had DDs and tons of planes looking and they couldn't find that @#$%^ sub for beans.

Things are going pretty much as expected otherwise. I refused battle at Mandalay and now Zonker has to consider how much he really wants to send his troops into the jungle.

In China he continues to pound along. (I've already commented on my opinion of attrition battles in the game elsewhere.) I figure that by 1943 he will have most of China and his troops will by then be at "God"-levels and the only thing I'll be able to do is hack the database to insert some Turn A Gundums for my side. (If you have to ask, you probably don't want to [;)] )

I continue to find the replacement/upgrade concepts idiotic at best. This is just like Pacwar - why bother building ungodly numbers of gooney birds when nobody loses them and there are less than a handful of units to use them. And I am waiting for someone to give me a legitimate reference book or an official US Military web site that convinces me that only 10 P-40Bs were assigned per month to the Pacific theater in 1942.

I sit here with the idle hope that somehow, someday, v1.50 will do something to reduce the frustration I feel with the details in this game. The problem is that I don't know that I will feel like starting yet another campaign game - I've done it so many times now that I'm really tired of it. This is no reflection of Zonker or the other very good, friendly, supportive and enjoyable opponents that I have, but a reflection of the lack of satisfaction that I'm getting out of fighting the game engine. (I've posted my rant list elsewhere, and those things that I didn't list were nicely added by others.)

Sure, I only spent a hundred bucks (Canadian) on this game, but the analog to me is that of eating a hundred dollar meal in a restaurant. Imagine getting a meal, but the hot soup is cold, the salad has no dressing and the roast duck is undercooked. So you ask nicely to send it back for a replacement, but the staff refuses because they are too busy cooking a new, different meal for later customers and tell you that they don't cook your meal anymore because it is too difficult to do right, and why don't you just buy the new meal instead. So you leave and never go back to that restaurant.

Dave Baranyi

(Going off to watch the latest Meitantei Conan movie.)

[Grotius]

This is a very well-written AAR. It makes for pretty compelling reading. I have to admit, there's something to be said for resisting the temptation to quote every comtareport.txt. Hehe, unfortunately, I myself am unable to resist that temptation.

Anyway, keep 'em coming.

[Tom Hunter]

My game with Blackwatch is up to March 23rd but on hold for a few days because I am on the road.

I dont share your feelings about the air replacements. My problem now is bases not planes I am trying every trick in the book to get them built faster. I am going to update the AAR today and I will comment some more on this.

The other thing is that in March the Kittyhawks start showing up in Oz and that helps some too. But mainly my numbers are good because I:

Use everything
Send oil to Oz to keep the wirraway and beafort replacement rates high
Make sure there is at least one Dutch base some where with 20K+ supply to rest and refit the Dutch fighter and bomber units.
Get the marine F4Fs into action
Keep one F3F unit in play to use up those planes.
Send the P39s into action too there are a lot of them from personal experience they seem to do a good job strafing shipping

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

My game with Blackwatch is up to March 23rd but on hold for a few days because I am on the road.

I dont share your feelings about the air replacements. My problem now is bases not planes I am trying every trick in the book to get them built faster. I am going to update the AAR today and I will comment some more on this.

The other thing is that in March the Kittyhawks start showing up in Oz and that helps some too. But mainly my numbers are good because I:

Use everything
Send oil to Oz to keep the wirraway and beafort replacement rates high
Make sure there is at least one Dutch base some where with 20K+ supply to rest and refit the Dutch fighter and bomber units.
Get the marine F4Fs into action
Keep one F3F unit in play to use up those planes.
Send the P39s into action too there are a lot of them from personal experience they seem to do a good job strafing shipping

I haven't seen any Kittyhawks yet, but I've got almost as many Mohawks as were historically produced altogether. It's too bad they aren't any good.

I've also got tons of Wirraways and Beauforts in the replacement pools. Along with even more C-47s and Catalinas. Zonker is too smart to get into a war of attrition on my turf, so I have no chance to use the planes that I've got the most of, and I refuse to throw away even mediocre planes on his terms.

The nice thing is that I am finally getting back some of the air units that were destroyed or I disbanded in December, and they are coming back as better planes. If I had been smart I would have disbanded most of my garbage planes early on - next time I guess.

Dave Baranyi

[Grotius]

I don't share your misgivings about air replacements either. I rather like WITP's system. I do wish there were an option to give the Allied player more control over production, but it's not a big deal to me. I am not sure what I think about the coming changes to player-selected plane upgrade paths, but it will be optional, so if I don't like it I won't use it.

In fact, I feel like I've gotten my $70-worth many times over. There's only one other game I've played for this length of time over the past year, and that's World of Warcraft, for which I pay a monthly fee.

[Tom Hunter]

Take a look at my AAR with Blackwatch I finally had the chance to add my comments about this and you can see it playing out in some of the reports we have posted and the air loss statistics.

[ADavidB]

Okay, it's mid-March 1942 and Zonker has started his long awaited invasion of Timor. But there is a surprise waiting for him there - he will have to Face the Wrath of the Royal Naval flying corp.

Yeah, right. At this point in the game Zonker has seen how pitiful my museum piece biplanes really are, whether Dutch or Brit. By now Zonker is putting mosquito coils out on the decks of his ships to repel my attacks.

The problem for me is that Zonker attacks (very smartly) with very strong battleship TFs, and of course my flyboys all want to be "dead heroes" and throw themselves after the BBs instead of after the thin-skinned transports nearby. This is the result of my misadventure with the Enterprise (losing her to a submarine) - a flight of Dauntless dive bombers would have made him stand up and take notice. But that's how things go...

I haven't seen any naval air cover - I doubt he will bother.

I'll be back if there are any miracles. [&o]

Dave Baranyi

[ZonkerHarris]

I probably did take the RN a bit too lightly near Timor, as one of their Stringbags broke through my LRCAP and scored a torpedo hit on a BB. She'll swim, of course, but will need some time in the yards as a result. The next day, my IJNAF pilots finally set the sake aside and got into the fight, and a Betty hit Indomitable with a torp. The Brit CV will also survive, unless Dave decides to keep her in the fight another day.

Now if only Prince of Wales and Repulse would attempt to intervene. Tanaka Raizo's just itching for a proper surface battle.

[ZonkerHarris]

Well I got my surface battle, but not quite the one I wanted. A TF built around Dutch light cruisers tried to break up my Timor landing, and Tanaka's BBs were somehow too slow to get there. (He'd retired after bombarding the previous turn (despite plenty of ammo remaining) and I'd ordered him to go back at full speed, but it wasn't enough to get there in time for the fight.) Fortunately, I learned from my previous mistake along these lines, and my transport TF included a full DD squadron, led by a CL. A fairly sharp nighttime fight results in my CL Kiso sunk, Dave's CL Tromp shot up a bit, and no hits on my transports. Also no Long Lance hits, which leaves me a bit unhappy at my tin can skippers. So all in all, the crushing victory I'd expected turned into something much like a draw. I'll achieve my objective, but the lost CL won't be replaced.

[ADavidB]

Yes, my "Dutch Blasters" got a few shots in - the mice will play while the cat's away. [:D]

Dave

[Tom Hunter]

In my Non AAR game the Japanese send KB and a force of BBs to support an invasion on the wrong side of Java. I put over 200 LBA there and 55 beauforts + 100 or so other planes hit the BB group and sunk all 3 of them.

At least in theory its possible to hurt the attack on Keopang because the airbase starts the game at level 3. But it depends on what is guarding it.

[ADavidB]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

In my Non AAR game the Japanese send KB and a force of BBs to support an invasion on the wrong side of Java. I put over 200 LBA there and 55 beauforts + 100 or so other planes hit the BB group and sunk all 3 of them.

At least in theory its possible to hurt the attack on Keopang because the airbase starts the game at level 3. But it depends on what is guarding it.

Zonker plays a lot better than to let me do that to him. (Not that I don't try...[;)] )

Dave Baranyi